Slipper clutches

Pie-Roe · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Karma :

Hi, I just bought a bike with a slipper clutch, the guy I bought it from informed me it's so you can downshift a little less conservativley than you would normally because they stop the rear locking up?

Firstly how well will this work in real life on a 2000 DRZ-E, and what sort of gains/losses will it have on the bikes performance? (not that I can reach 50% of it's potential but you know Very Happy

)

Cheers
Pyro
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McGee · O RLY? Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Karma :

You're not going to lose any performance.

It just lets you shift down and pop the clutch out with out locking the wheel.

I doubt you will ever use it on a drz
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Its pronounced Jixxer!

Acemastr · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Karma :

they are beautiful to downshift with, won't ever need to worry about locking the rear even in the wet
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Harold_Shand · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 Jun 2004 Karma :

Howdy

A mate of mine told me his insurance company viewed a slipper clutch as a performance mod, you might have to let yours know.
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Harold_Shand's theory might be the best explanation.

sickpup · Old Timer Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

locking the rear up with down-shifting is all part of the fun on a light-ish dirt-style bike Smile

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Can you even get a slipper clutch for the DRZ? I personally would just learn to work around it.

On track it can make everything that bit smoother on 100hp+ bikes, but no way I'd pay out for one for a road bike, never mind a very low-powered one.

Welshd1k · World Chat Champion Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Karma :

Pie-Roe · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Karma :

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

Not sure you'll get much money for enduro wheels - the supermoto wheels will be worth a fair bit more. Similarly, plastics tend to be pretty cheap compared to road bikes.
I just realised that my KTM690 does actually have a slipper clutch. It's still possible to get the rear sliding, even with supermoto wheels, however. If it was adjustable (I'm presuming it's not), could probably tune it out if really wanted. Note the KTM does have probably about 50% more go than the DRZ and I'm not convinced it's that useful there.

Definitely shouldn't 'need' it to do trackdays on a DRZ I reckon.
£400 seems around the bottom end of the price range for a slipper clutch, but my experience is from road bikes, where they probably need to be a bit tougher.

And, sorry, I've just re-read your post and actually /read/ it this time Smile

... thought you were looking to buy one, my bad. If it's on the bike, I'd just leave it as-is, unless you decide you really want the extra slideyness.

Anyway, the only major difference between having and not having one is that on downshifts at highish rpm, the rear should either not lock up at all, or lockup for less time.
When you're 'on it' on track dumping down gears can cause the rear to lock up* if you don't blip the throttle at the same time, or if you change down too early.
*Technically not lock up, just spin at a slower speed than the speed it's going over the road, so it loses traction at least.